East Ridge assistant football coach Austin Roden, right, who is undergoing treatment for multiple brain tumors, and Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke hold up signs at City Hall on Wednesday for the "Blank Cancer" campaign.Leaning back in his seat in a downstairs lounge area at Erlanger Medical Center, Austin Roden glances up at the cocktail of medicines flowing into his arm from the three IVs hanging above his head.
"It's been tougher than I thought it would be," Roden said, pressing his lips tightly together and shaking his head. "There's a lot more we could've done to make it better, but there's one more week to go."
As Roden speaks, it suddenly becomes clear that he isn't talking about the two months of chemotherapy he has undergone to fight the six cancerous tumors that were discovered in his brain in late July. Instead, the first-year assistant coach at East Ridge is expressing how upset he is over the way the football season has gone for the Pioneers.
"The team had a lot of things go against it, and it's been disappointing," Roden said, referring to the Pioneers' hopes of a playoff run that turned into a 3-7 season capped last Thursday with a win over Howard. "Winning the last game of the season showed that the kids never gave up. I guess the good thing is that the guys kept fighting."
For more than two months Roden has alternated spending a week in the hospital for chemotherapy treatments with a week back home to rest. Although the double-dose rounds of chemo he's taken for the last four rounds made him much weaker and too tired for much activity, he was able to continue going to some practices.
The treatments have eliminated all six tumors, but doctors have cautioned Roden about the possibility that any could return. Following his last round of chemo this week, Roden will go to Vanderbilt Medical Center to undergo a stem cell transplant, a procedure his doctors hope will suppress the cancer and reduce the possibility of a relapse.
As the season played out, despite the on-field disappointment, Roden continued the fight for his life and remained a constant example for the playesr as well as others he comes in contact with each day.
During one of his early weeks of chemo, as he scanned the Internet, Roden found a website for Saxon/Hart, a New York-based marketing company that specializes in promoting unique and inspirational causes. What caught his attention was a social media campaign entitled "#BlankCancer," which was set up to function as sort of a public service announcement to bring awareness and education for cancer patients.
Roden reached out to Heidi Burkhart, president of Saxon/Hart and the creator of the campaign, to see if there was anything he could do to help or get involved. Those communications led Burkhart's team to work with Mayor Andy Berke's office and organize an event locally to help bring awareness and possibly more donations toward cancer research.
Mayor Berke has proclaimed Friday as "BlankCancer Day" in the city. During halftime of the first-round football playoff game at Notre Dame, the mayor, other city leaders and Burkhart and other representatives from Saxon/Hart will recognize Roden as the local ambassador for the #BlankCancer campaign.
Berke met with Roden this past week, filling in the blank on one of the cards with "Veto Cancer." Roden's sign read "Tackle Cancer."
"Whenever you see somebody that is going through personal issues and trying to make our community better at the same time, that makes that person a great example for the community, and I wanted to help out any way that I could," Berke said. "His story is so important for people throughout our community to understand and take inspiration from. To be thinking about other people, while you yourself face serious issues, is more than you can ask of anyone, and he's really stepped up to the plate."
Notre Dame has printed 500 shirts with the #BlankCancer logo to be sold to students and parents this week. The $5 proceeds from each shirt sold will go toward a cancer awareness program of Roden's choosing, and fans in the stands Friday will be given signs and cards to fill in the blank and hold up for a promotional video to be shot and circulated through social media as inspiration for other cancer patients.
"I'll have a week or two to rest at home and then be at Vanderbilt for about six weeks," Roden said. "I'm not stressed about it. I know it'll be more needles and sickness for me, but it's the process to try and get better.
"It's a never-ending thing. All the nurses and doctors here have been so good to me, and I can't thank them enough. I'm tired and ready to have a break from hospitals, but there is no guarantee I'll ever be done. All I can do is just keep fighting and hopefully help out some other people along the way."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.